SOURCE: "Paine Reads the Bible," in Paine, Scripture, and Authority: The Age of Reason as Religious and Political Idea, Lehigh University Press, 1994, pp. 70-87.

Focusing on The Age of Reason, the following chapter from Davidson and Scheick's book analyzes Paine's effort to undermine the authority of the Bible and his effort to create a sense of authority for himself

Paine intended The Age of Reason to present what he called "the theology that is true" (1:464). His own faith, he professed, contained two articles: "I believe in one God, and no more; . . . and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow creatures happy" (1:464). For Paine, the Deity is worthy of belief and worship, not as He is described in the Bible, but as He is made known, represented, in the ever-widening knowledge of science.

The Age of Reason, as Paine...